Category: Strava Pro KOMs

This series looking at Strava leaderboards now turns to the action in Belgium, where the spring classics season is under way. Greg Van Avermaet, Philipe Gilbert, Michal Kwiatkowski and Peter Sagan are among the riders in top form ahead of the Tour of Flanders, not forgetting former winners Tom Boonen, Alexander Kristoff and Stijn Devolder. This year’s race includes 18 climbs, finishing with a loop that takes in six famous ascents in the last 50km. Will the pros to be setting KOMs on these Hellingens?
Making the top 10 on any leaderboard, towards the end of a 260km race, sounds like a tall order. KOMs are more likely to fall on longer faster climbs where riders can benefit from drafting in a group. In fact the riders will be climbing the Oude-Kwaremont three times and the Paterberg twice, so the top times are more at risk on those two, if someone decides to make a strong attack. The weather forecast is good: sunny, about 16°C, with a light breeze from the WNW. The wind will be against the riders on the Taaienberg, but it will provide a small benefit on the other final hills, which happen to be ridden in directions between East and South.

Pro rider van Rensburg holds the KOM up the Koppenberg, set on a pre-race recce. Dries Devenyns is not far behind, but none of the top ten times appear to have been set in races. Although there will be a weak tailwind, it seems unlikely that a new record will be set in this year’s Tour of Flanders.

Two riders made the top ten in the 2015 edition of the Three Days of De Panne and three others in the Flanders Under 23 race in 2013. We can also see quick times in recce rides by Terpstra in 2015, Kwiatkowski, last year, and Steels this week. There’s a chance this KOM could go on Sunday.

The KOM is held by GCN‘s Daniel Lloyd, set in the Tour of Flanders in 2011, in very similar weather conditions. The three leading times stand a long way ahead of the rest. It will be very interesting to see how the current pros perform on this climb. Daniel’s time could be at risk.

The leaderboard of segment is packed with pro racing performances, led once again by Niki Terpstra. With the last ascent coming at a crucial time in this year’s Tour of Flanders, the KOM could fall again.

This short, steep climb seems to be the target of specific KOM hunters. None of the top ten times were set in the big races. Although this will be the final place to attack in this year’s race, the riders will be fatigued by 247km of tough roads. The top time is likely to hold firm, especially if barriers are used to block smoother edges of the road.

This series has explored what it takes to get a KOM on Strava, but what about the pros? Don’t they come home with a sackful of KOMs after every training ride? Which pro rider tops the most Strava leaderboards?

You can follow over a thousand pro athletes on Strava. These include runners, triathletes, mountain bikers and professional cyclists. Although you will not find Peter Sagan, Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana or Alberto Contador (you can ignore all the fake Strava ids with these names), there is a good selection of UCI team riders. There are also riders who do not claim Strava pro status, like some guy called Phil who recently went out for an afternoon ride.

Some pros upload just a limited number of rides, for example, Marianne Vos only has 243 rides on Strava, with nothing new since December. Other riders, such as Ian Stannard, upload their rides, but withhold their (monstrously high) power data. Nevertheless, many pro riders are more open about making their data available on Strava, including power. Take a look at the Col d’Eze segment on the final stage of Paris Nice. The little lightning bolt symbol indicates that the rider was using a power meter, but rather confusingly, some pro riders (Team Sky) are able to hide their average power for the ride, in which case the figure is a Strava estimate. But you can find the real number by highlighting the segment in the analysis view of the ride.

This review considers over 200 active professional road cyclists who are on Strava. The riders with the highest number of KOMs need to have uploaded a lot fast rides, in regions where many segments have been recorded. Here are the current top 10 pro riders from the sample.

Rank

KOMs

Name

Team

1

1907

Laurens ten Dam

Team Sunweb

2

1381

Elisa Longo Borghini

Wiggle Honda

3

1296

Annemiek van Vleuten

Orica AIS

4

1230

Niki Terpstra Racing

Quick-Step Floors

5

1162

James Gullen

JLT Condor

6

1070

Thibaut Pinot

FDJ

7

1035

Dan Evans

Cannodale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team

8

978

Romain Bardet

AG2R

9

864

Joe Dombrowski

Cannodale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team

10

852

Dani King

Cylance

A bit further down the list, Michal Kwiatkowski has 559 KOMs, including eight that he picked up in his Milan San Remo victory. After riding the first 140km at a relatively easy 35kph and an average power of just 124W, he upped the effort to traverse the Passo del Turchino. His power and heart rate rose progressively all the way to the Cipressa, from which point he earned a KOM for the segment to the finish. He claimed four KOMs as he followed Peter Sagan’s dramatic attack on the Poggio, though these would have undoubtably been Sagan’s, if he’d put his data on Strava. Viewing the ride analysis, we see that after over seven hours of riding, Michal ascended the 3.6km 4% climb at 37kph, generating 443W (about 6.5 W/kg) for 5 minutes and 47 seconds, rather than the 536W estimated on the leaderboard. He peaked at over 900W near the summit as he an Alaphilippe desperately fought to get onto Sagan’s wheel.Lauren ten Dam has the most KOMs by a long way, though he does match Maryka Sennema’s haul of QOMs. Interestingly there are three women in the top ten, in spite of the fact that most of the riders in the sample were men. It is no surprise to see Elisa Longo Borghini and Annemiek van Vleuten at the head of the women’s rankings. Niki Terpstra follows his Dutch compatriot, while James Gullen is the leading Brit, followed by Dan Evans representing Wales alongside Dani King. Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet are the kings of the French mountains. Nice-based American rider Joe Dombrowski also makes the top ten.